FUT Esports, G2 Esports and Team Spirit collected sweeps in Group A upper-bracket quarterfinal action Saturday at the Intel Extreme Masters Krakow tournament in Poland.
Natus Vincere edged Parivision 2-1 in Saturday’s other Group A quarterfinal to join the other three in the semifinals, slated for Sunday.
In Group B play, Team Vitality swept BC Game Esports, and 3DMAX handled FaZe Clan 2-0 in the quarterfinals to advance to Monday’s Group B semifinals. The other two upper-bracket quarterfinals will be Sunday.
Saturday’s matches launched double-elimination play for 16 teams as they compete in the $1 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament that started with 24 teams.
The six teams that lost Saturday dropped into lower-bracket action and will need to rally to earn spots in the six-team playoffs that will begin Friday. The champion of the playoff receives $400,000. while the runner-up claims $180,000.
FUT Esports handled FURIA 13-11 on Mirage and 13-6 on Dust II. Dmytro ‘dem0n’ Myroshnychenko of Ukraine racked 41 kills vs. 30 deaths to pace FUT Esports. Kazakhstan’s Danil ‘molodoy’ Golubenko fared best for FURIA with a 30-30 split.
G2 Esports rolled past The MongolZ 13-2 on Dust II and 13-11 on Ancient. Bosnia-Serbia’s Nemanja “hunter-” Kovac, the G2Esports captain, posted a plus-13 kill-death differential while Spain’s Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia finished plus-10. Mongolia’s Usukhbayar “910” Banzragch posted 30 kills vs. 28 deaths for The MongolZ.
Natus Vincere’s match with Parivision was the best of the day. After NAVI opened with a 13-11 win on Dust II, Parivision answered with a 19-16 victory on Anubis. Natus Vincere stayed in the winners’ bracket by taking Ancient by a 13-5 count. Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy of Ukraine paced Natus Vincere with a plus-10 differential. Russia’s Ivan ‘zweih’ Gogin responded with 63 kills vs. 50 deaths for Parivision.
Team Spirit closed the Group A upper-bracket quarterfinals by sweeping Astralis. Spirit opened with a 16-13 win on Dust II before claiming a 13-8 victory on Overpass. Russi’a Danil “donk” Kryshkovets dominated with 53 kills against just 28 deaths to pace Team Spirit. Sweden’s Love “phzy” Smidebrant led the way for Astralis with a plus-9 differential.
Team Vitality opened Group B upper-bracket quarterfinal play by bouncing BC Game Esports 13-8 on Dust II and 13-5 on Overpass. Shahar “flameZ” Shushan of Israel earned the game’s best rating (1.65) as he amassed a plus-9 differential for Team Vitality. Oleksandr “s1imple” Kostyliev of Ukraine was plus-1 for BC Game Esports.
Group B’s other quarterfinal match on Saturday featured 3DMAX defeating FaZe Clan 13-7 on Inferno and 13-2 on Nuke. All five 3DMAX competitors amassed positive differentials, with France’s Filip “Graviti” Brankovic leading the way with 37 kills vs. 15 deaths.
Sunday’s schedule:
Upper Bracket semifinals:
Group A — FUT Esports vs. G2 Esports
Group A — Natus Vincere vs. Team Spirit
Lower Bracket quarterfinals:
Group A — FURIA vs. The MongolZ
Group A — PARIVISION vs. Astralis
Upper Bracket quarterfinals:
Group B — MOUZ vs. NRG
Group B — Aurora Gaming vs. Team Falcons
Intel Extreme Masters Krakow prize pool
1. $400,000
2. $180,000
3. $100,000
4. $60,000
5-6. $40,000
7-8. $24,000
9-12. $16,000
13-16. $10,000
17-20. $4,500 — GamerLegion, Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid, paiN Gaming
21-24. $2,500 — Passion UA, Legacy, B8, HEROIC
–Field Level Media
